Key
by nesza
Summary: It all started with a lost club room key. One little thing which apparently when lost can screw up Haru's entire life. HaruGou.


Apparently I'm writing again. This was supposed to be a one-shot fic but then it got too long so I'm going to break it down to two or three chapters. I hope you like what you read.

* * *

**Chapter 1:**

It all started with a lost club room key. One little tiny thing which apparently when lost can fuck up Haru's entire life.

Haru thought he had it in his bag but when he arrived at the pool area, earliest of the club members as usual, he found that it was not in the compartment of his bag where he usually puts it. He rummaged through his belongings and even turned his bag upside down to look for it but it wasn't there. He was placing his stuff back in his bag with a confused look on his face when the swim club members found him.

"What's wrong, Haru-chan?" Makoto asked, surprised that his friend was not in the water yet.

"I lost my key."

"Hmm, the one with the Haru-version Iwatobi keychain with black and purple trunks?" Nagisa asked. The boy looked like he knew where it was.

Haru nodded.

"I thought I saw it yesterday in your living room during our club meeting. You must have forgotten to bring it," said the blonde boy. He omitted the fact that he knew this because he accidentally stepped on it and kicked it away when he did. He laughed and added, "you're getting old and forgetful, Haru-chan."

Haru's eyes slightly narrowed at Nagisa as if he was saying that he's not forgetful and that the breaststroke swimmer should just shut up, but of course he never said it aloud. He forgot that Nagisa cannot translate his stares like Makoto can.

Makoto proceeded to open the club room door with his own keys. "Well, we have the club room open now. Let's hurry up so we can finish early," the club captain said as he held the door open to let the other club members in. He was in charge of babysitting the twins so he wanted to get home early.

Gou was the last person to arrive, reading something from her notebook as she walked slowly, not even bothering to look at where she was going. She was just about two steps away from reaching the club room door when she got toppled by a swift, strong force that was making its way out of the room.

She lost her balance and almost fell on the floor but Makoto was quick to catch her by the arm and straighten her. She heard a splash and her eyes narrowed as it fell on the culprit who was now happily floating in the pool, "Grrr. Haruka-senpai, I told you there's no running in this area! This is not a track club, for Christ's sake!"

Haru just continued floating as if he didn't hear anything at all and it annoyed Gou even more. Rei and Nagisa just laughed as they made their way out of the club room, having changed into their swimming trunks. They were used to this by now, and frankly Gou should be too.

Makoto smiled apologetically at Gou as if saying sorry for his best friend's shenanigan. Gou thanked the club captain for saving her butt from making contact with the floor.

"Oh, Gou-chan, I've got a favor to ask," he started after Gou thanked him. "Haru forgot his key at home and I have to go home early. I was hoping you could, maybe, make sure he gets out of the pool before it gets too cold and lock the club room?" He scratched his head as he gave her a toothy smile, as if he was embarrassed by having to ask for a favor.

No one in their right mind can refuse that trademark Tachibana smile and Gou didn't have the heart to refuse despite having some projects to finish.

"Sure," she said. "I can wait for him and lock up."

The practice went by quickly; there really wasn't much that they needed to do. They were done with the Nationals competition and these practices really weren't needed as the school year was closing. Gou announced that they were done with the drills and can go whenever they like before she went inside the club room to work on her school assignment. Nagisa and Rei were the first ones who went home. Nagisa always made sure not to loiter in school and go home as early as he can to study. He was aware that he had to study hard to pull up his grades. Makoto soon followed, waving goodbye to Gou and then to Haru who was still in the pool.

It was already dark when Haru decided that he had had enough and decided it was time to go home. He was surprised to find that Gou was still inside the club room, apparently waiting for him to finish. He thought Makoto would have just left him a key and he would have been more than happy to lock up after himself.

She was too busy with what she was doing that she didn't even notice when he made his way to the shower room.

Once he was dressed in the extra set of clothes that he brought, he went back to where Gou was. He looked at the clock on the wall, it was already past seven in the evening. "Kou," he called her and she turned around to look at him.

"Oh, Haruka-senpai, you're done," she stated.

He was ready to go and was standing there with his hand on the strap of his shoulder bag like he was expecting her to get ready as well. "Let's go," he said.

Gou looked at the swimmer, then to her laptop, and then back again at Haru, deciding. "You can go. I think I'll just finish my paper here, I'm almost done. I'll lock up the room when I leave," she said.

Haru nodded and said goodbye before he made his way out the room. He was already almost out of the pool area when he decided to go back. She waited for him for more than an hour, it was not proper to just leave her. Besides, it was already late. Rin would kill him if anything happened to Gou because of him.

It was a good twenty minutes before she finished her paper and went out. She found him sitting down on the bench beside the pool, waiting. "Haruka-senpai, you're still here," she said as she faced the door to lock it.

Haru stood up from the bench and started walking, "let's go, I'll walk you home."

She started following him, even had to hurry a bit so she could walk beside him to say, "but senpai, my house is in the opposite direction of yours, there's no need to walk me home."

"It's late, " he said by way of explanation, placing his hands in the pockets of his white and blue club jacket as he continued to walk.

"I've gone home at this hour plenty of times, there's really nothing to worry about," she smiled at him, trying to get his attention.

He just kept on walking as if he didn't hear her and from the school main gates, turned to the direction of her house. It took him a couple of steps before he realized that the girl wasn't following him and was still standing near the school gate, looking hesitant. He turned around to face her and crossed his arms, "is there a problem?"

"I just don't want to be a bother. You'd have to walk really far to get home from our house," she said. "I've done this a lot of times, really. It's not dangerous for me to go home alone."

His eyes narrowed a fraction. Her trying to talk him out of it was the real hassle, not the walk itself. He'd think she'd know by now that if it was too much effort, he won't even offer it in the first place. "It's not a bother. I'm walking you home," he turned towards the direction of her house and started walking again.

Gou followed him after that, realizing that Haru was not to be swayed. The vice captain always did what he wanted, and if he wanted to walk her home even she, herself, cannot talk him out of it.

They spent most of the walk in silence. They really weren't that close to begin with and Haru was never one to talk a lot.

She broke the silence with small talk, which eventually led to them talking about how he and Makoto were both going to Tokyo and how she wished her brother would just go to Tokyo instead of Australia for the latter was just too far away.

Haru sneaked some glances at her and found her hugging her bag like a lost little girl whenever she talked about her brother. He couldn't understand why he found it adorable.

"Thank you very much, Haruka-senpai!" she beamed at him, when they reached her doorstep. She reached for his lower arm and squeezed it as she said, "I'm very sorry for the trouble."

He tried not to blush, feeling embarrassed somehow by the seemingly innocent contact. He had seen her do it a lot of times before, but usually to other people. It was her way of making sure to get an important message across.

"It's my fault you got home late," he looked away. "There's nothing for you to be sorry for. Thanks for waiting for me, Kou, " he said before he turned to leave and walked slowly.

"I hope you find your key soon," she said after him before she opened the door and got in.

He waited until he heard the sound of her front door closing before he placed his hands in his pocket and picked up his pace.

* * *

That night, he stepped into his living room and quickly scanned the floor area with his eyes. When there wasn't any clear sign of his key, he decided to forget about it. It was not worth the trouble of kneeling on all fours to look for it under the couch or to move some books and magazines to check if it was underneath.

He knew that Makoto's mother was out of town for the week and that the green-eyed boy had no other choice but to go home early to look after the twins. He was also aware that the lowerclassmen have their final exams next week and Nagisa will have no choice but to go home early and study. He also knew that Rei was like Nagisa's shadow now and takes the train everyday with the blonde boy.

He mentioned to Makoto the following morning that he couldn't find his key and that he probably really lost it. That was the last thing he needed to do to set his plan in motion.

He honestly didn't know why he did it. He knew that it wasn't a good idea and he didn't know what exactly he wanted to accomplish by it. He just knew that he didn't mind walking her home last night and that he wouldn't mind if he had to do it again.

Makoto, being Haru's unofficial guardian, went to ask for the same favor from Gou again. She was fine with it, she told the captain, it was no big deal. She can study just as easily in the club room as she can in her own room. It was probably even better since there were no distractions in the club room.

So that was how Haru ended up walking Gou home for the entire week under the guise that it was late and her brother will kill him if anything happened to her. Sometimes he won't even stay in the water that long after the other club members had left. He just made sure that he was still in the water when the rest were already getting dressed. He just wanted him and Gou to be the last ones left.

There was one morning when Makoto offered him his club room keys so that they won't bother Gou too much. Haru refused, saying that he might lose it as well since he's so forgetful nowadays. Then the shorter boy walked ahead in haste, his trademark move whenever he wanted Makoto to drop the subject. Makoto just smiled knowingly and didn't offer a second time.

Haru found that he didn't mind walking several kilometers at night or not having dinner on time…having to walk all the way to his home after dropping her off before getting to grill his mackerel. He started bringing snacks with him and eating them before he went to swimming practice. It was meant to tide him over until it was time for his late dinner. She had asked him to come inside to eat a couple of times but he refused. He felt that coming in to her house to have dinner with her family would feel too awkward.

Besides, he didn't want word going out to Rin that he had been taking the Samezuka swim club captain's little sister home. Going inside the Matsuoka household for dinner on a school night was a surefire way of getting under Rin's radar.

He didn't want complications and Rin would be just that.

* * *

"So Haru…"

Haru didn't like the sound of that. That was how Makoto always sounded whenever he was either about to tell him some bad news or whenever he was about to ask an embarrassing question. He quickly looked at his best friend out of the corner of his eye before looking straight ahead again at the game they were playing.

"Are you and Gou—"

"No."

"I didn't even finish. You don't even know what I'm going to ask," Makoto said, frowning. His eyes never left the TV screen.

"It doesn't matter. I know what you mean and the answer is no," Haru said in his usual monotone. They've been friends for so long, Makoto didn't need to finish his sentences for him to understand what the taller boy meant.

"Alright then. But Haru…" Makoto's tone gave him away again. "Do you li-"

"No," Haruka answered right away, voice as emotionless as ever.

"How can you say no? I didn't even finish," Makoto sighed. He took note that Haru's character in the game was suddenly doing flying kicks in the air with not one landing on the enemy. He glanced at him quickly. He could tell that Haru was trying hard to look like he wasn't fazed but his game totally gave him away. "Are you sure?"

Haru pursed his lips, then sighed. "No. I…I don't really know. I haven't thought much about it."

"What are you doing then if you're not even sure if you like her in the first place?" Makoto asked, his voice louder than he would have liked.

"I'm not doing anything," Haru was quick to deny.

Makoto paused the game suddenly, much to Haru's chagrin. Haru was winning.

"You know you are."

"It's nothing. I just walk her home," Haru was trying not to look at his friend, suddenly finding the controller very interesting to stare at. "I'm not doing anything wrong by hanging out with her. "

"You're leaving Iwatobi in less than a couple of months, you know. You shouldn't lead her on if you're not prepared to be her boyfriend."

"I'm not leading her on," Haru suddenly felt like a guilty child being told off by his parent. "We just walk together. Besides, she doesn't even suspect a thing. She doesn't even like me in the first place." The controller was still very interesting to look at.

Haru never told Makoto but he always thought that Gou liked the backstroke swimmer. She never gets mad at Makoto like she gets mad at the rest of them and it didn't escape his notice that of all swim club members, she talked to Makoto the most.

"So you admit that there's something to suspect," Makoto let him know that he caught him.

Haru narrowed his eyes at his friend in annoyance. "For the last time, I'm not doing anything." Great, now he even sound like Gou.

"That's dangerous…" Makoto warned him," whatever you say you're _not_ doing." _For both of you_, he wanted to add.

"I'm not…" he was about to deny again but then he relented and quietly said, "I'm not going to do anything else."

"If you say so," Makoto said as he looked back at the screen, resuming their game and getting a punch in before Haru had the presence of mind to move his thumbs. "She's Rin's sister. If she cries, Rin will probably bite your throat off and dump your bloody corpse in the ocean for Mackerel to feast on. You know that, right?"

Haru's eyebrows furrowed as he nodded, "I know."

* * *

Monday rolled around and he found himself attending graduation practice in the morning and going home after lunch. There really wasn't anything to do in school. The third year students were done with their exams and they were just going to school for clearance and graduation practice.

He picked up Makoto from his house so they could both go to swimming practice together.

"Isn't it the 2nd years' final exams week?" Makoto asked as they walked past the school gate. The school was uncharacteristically quiet, and only a few students were loitering the premises.

"Yeah."

"I wonder why Gou suddenly wanted to still have practice this week. She told me last week that she was thinking of cancelling it and I thought I already agreed, " the swim club captain said. "We don't really have to practice anymore. Nationals is over and they need their afternoons to study for exams."

Haru's ears turned red. Gou told him on Friday that she was planning on cancelling the club training that week so that Makoto and Haru can go home early after their graduation practice and so that the rest of them can study. But Haru told her that it was still probably a good idea to continue with the swimming practice as they'd still need to be in top shape when they move to Tokyo, and Nagisa and Rei might not perform too well next year if they don't continue practicing every week. He even added that he would bet that Samezuka was still also training.

Makoto felt Haru's footsteps quicken, the raven-haired boy lightly bumping into his shoulder on his haste. "It's not my fault. I didn't do anything!" Makoto heard Haru guiltily say before the latter quickly turned a corner and disappeared from his sight.

Makoto could only chuckle.

* * *

It will be a short session today, Gou told the swimmers. They would just do a couple of drills and then everyone was free to go. She said she feels bad that Haru and Makoto had to walk back to school just for this so she asked everyone whether they'd want to move the time of the training sessions.

"Don't move it!" Haru was the first to answer and he must have said it louder than necessary for he saw four pairs of eyes blink at him in surprise. He looked away and said a lot more softly, "I mean, don't move it for our sake. I don't mind coming back to school for this." He could feel that they were still staring at him so he added as further explanation, " I…I…like to swim."

Gou smiled, "I'm glad you don't find coming back for today too much of a hassle, but what about the others?"

Rei suggested to move it to right after lunch. That way, it will only be an hour right after graduation practice and the 2nd year finals. They'd have plenty of time in the afternoon to do their own thing.

Haru was not pleased with Rei's suggestion. How can Haru walk her home if it's not even late? The line of his lips settled in an imperceptible frown.

Nagisa was quick to say that they will probably get sick and get appendicitis because it's right after lunch. Rei was quicker to tell him off, saying that there was no scientific proof that performing physical activities after eating causes appendicitis and that Nagisa should just probably stop eating a lot of Iwatobi cream bread. Nagisa tried to cover Rei's mouth when he realized what the butterfly swimmer was saying, but he was too late.

"Nagisa!" Gou flared up, hands balling into fists as she screamed at the blonde boy. "I told you to stop eating that crap!"

Rei cowered in fear while Nagisa just smiled mischievously at her and said, "Gou-chan, you're gonna have wrinkles if you continue shouting like a banshee, and besides, I haven't even eaten any Iwatobi cream bread this week."

"It's only a Monday, it's hardly anything to be proud of" she told him. "And for the last time, it's Kou! Kou!"

There was a nervous laughter that was heard. It was Makoto trying to diffuse the tension. "Actually, Gou, I don't really mind if it's after lunch. I think that would be better for all of us, but maybe we can make it 1:30 instead so that Nagisa-chan will have enough time to digest his lunch properly."

Haru glared at Makoto. Traitor.

Gou must have noticed because she asked, "Is that time ok with you, Haruka-senpai? Do you prefer another schedule?"

He looked away and started walking towards the pool. "I don't care. I just want to swim," he said right before he dived into the water.

Gou laughed, wondering why she even bothered asking him in the first place. "Ok then, tomorrow let's meet at 1:30? Is that ok with you, Nagisa-chan, Rei-chan?" Her voice was a lot sweeter compared to before.

Rei nodded an affirmative.

"See, you look prettier when you're not shouting," teased Nagisa. "And yes, 1:30 is ok with me, _Gou-chan_." He quickly ran away from Gou and towards the pool.

Gou crossed her arms and sighed in exasperation at the blonde. "I can never win with you."

* * *

Rei and Nagisa were the first ones to go home. Nagisa was almost already jogging away when he waved at Haru, he said something about having loads of studying to do. Rei was walking behind him muttering something about Nagisa's form not being beautiful at all.

Makoto quickly said goodbye to Haru right after. The green-eyed swimmer was not exactly thrilled with what his best buddy was doing but he wasn't going to foil his plans either.

Haru floated in the water for another fifteen minutes before he made his way to the club room, drying his hair with a towel as he walked. He found Gou hunched over a Chemistry book and animatedly pounding a hand on the table while cursing the subject.

"Kou?"

She turned around to face him, her embarrassment at having been caught evident in her blush. "Oh, Haruka-senpai. Sorry about that. I was just…well…studying."

Haru looked at what she was studying from over her shoulder. "Stoichiometry, huh?"

"Yeah, it's killing me. I can't even answer this problem set right," she said, looking right back at her book and notebook on the desk. Haru moved closer behind her, peering at what she was trying to answer. He could see a lot of erasures on her notes.

"Four, " he said. "The coefficient of water is four."

"Eh?"

He pointed at the chemical equation written on her notes. His taut stomach almost touched her back as he placed a finger on her notebook where H2O was written. "The coefficient of H2O should be four, that will balance the equation."

He saw water droplets on her hair and realized that he had been dripping on her. He quickly moved his arm away and straightened his back.

"Oh," she said. "Are you…can you teach me how you got that?"

"Sure," He nodded and motioned to sit beside her. He may have been too excited about the fact that she asked for his help that he awkwardly moved his legs towards the front of the bench and sat down quickly, hitting her leg with his as he did so. "Sorry," he quickly apologized. He wasn't as graceful in land as he was in water.

She scooted so he'll have more space. He was already scanning her notes when he realized that Gou's hand was moving and was smoothing her skirt. He looked down to see that her skirt was wet where his thigh had made contact with hers and that the wooden bench had wet marks because of his trunks.

"Uhhh…I think I should probably shower first," he said and she agreed. He came back later wearing his Iwatobi swim club-issued jogging pants and jacket.

It took them more than a couple of hours more before they finally left the club room together. Haru wasn't a top student but he could understand science subjects fairly easily compared to others and Chemistry was one of his better subjects. He spent the time helping her on the subject and explaining how to balance equations and get molar masses and such.

Both didn't seem to have noticed the time.

"I'm starving," Gou complained just after they left the school premises. They were walking towards her house. "All that studying made me really hungry."

Haru was a bit hungry too, and he didn't particularly fancy the idea of having to walk all the way home after dropping her off before he could eat. "Isn't there a Family Mart near here?" he asked.

"Yes!" She looked so excited at the prospect of food. "Let's go!"

They looked around the store for a bit before they settled on what they will have. Haru was not particularly elated that there were no Mackerel-flavored noodles in the shop. They bought 2 bowls of instant noodles and 2 bottles of water. Gou insisted on paying, saying that it's her way of saying thank you to Haru for tutoring her. He argued at the start but eventually let her win. They took their food outside and sat side by side on a bench.

Haru ate his noodles in silence while he sneaked occasional glances at the red-head from his peripheral vision. He was too busy trying to multitask. He was listening to Gou talk while inwardly berating himself for letting the girl pay for what could be classified as a _sort-of-date,_ and wondering what a normal guy would do on a situation like this. It didn't even occur to him that he should be responding.

Gou, on the other hand, alternated between eating and talking about how hard her exams that morning were and how much she and Chigusa hated Chemistry and how thankful she was for Haru tutoring her. She then went on talking about a lot of other things like the swim club, PE classes and even Nitori.

At one point, he noticed that Gou had stopped talking and was staring at him with an almost angry look on her face.

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head and suddenly the angry look was gone. "Nothing," she said, "Are you done?" There was an edge in the way she delivered her question.

He nodded and Gou collected his cup and empty water bottle. She threw their trash in a bin before walking back to the bench to take her bag. She turned and walked on ahead without waiting for him, almost stomping. He couldn't help but feel that he did something wrong and somehow made her mad.

They walked in silence.

Haru could already see Gou's house when she spoke. "Did I bore you?"

"Huh?"

She looked at the ground while she squeezed the handle of her bag. "I know you must think that I'm too talkative. And you were probably bored with everything I was saying. If I talk too much again, you can just tell me to shut up instead of ignoring me," she said. "I promise I won't get mad at you this time…and I won't tell Rin."

Haru was confused for about a second before he remembered how she always reacted when he told her to shut up when they were kids. She used to cry like a baby and would eventually run to tell her brother that meanie _Haru-chan _was bullying her.

"You don't bore me," he said with a confused look on his usually passive face. He didn't know why she would even think that.

"But you ignored me the whole time like you weren't even listening!" her voice was a little louder than she intended. Then she looked away and said softly that he almost missed it, "I…I felt stupid."

His eyebrows furrowed, now knowing why she looked mad earlier. "I was listening. I like-"

He was cut off when he noticed that the light on Gou's porch suddenly turned on. The front door opened and Gou's mother came out. She looked at the approaching teens and sighed in relief. Gou walked ahead towards her.

"Gou, I was so worried," Mrs. Matsuoka said as she placed a hand on her daughter's head. "Where have you been? I couldn't contact you. I even sent your brother to look for you."

"Oh, sorry, mom. I was studying. My phone's battery died and I forgot my charger at home," Gou said. "Onii-chan was home?"

Gou's mother nodded. "Well, I'm just glad you're here now. We could call Rin to go back." She turned her attention to Haru with a questioning look.

"Nanase-senpai helped me study for Chemistry," Gou explained. "We didn't realize the time and he accompanied me home as it was already late."

The older Matsuoka smiled at Haru, "Thank you very much, Nanase-kun. I hope it wasn't too much trouble for you."

"It wasn't any trouble at all," Haru said.

"Have you had dinner? Come in, I cooked curry," she offered to Haru, moving to open the door wider.

Haru quickly took a step back and shook his head. If Rin was returning home, he can't afford to come in and stay. "I…I have some things I need to do," he reasoned, "But thank you for the offer."

"Oh, alright then, be careful on your way home." Mrs. Matsuoka looked at Gou as if she was waiting for the teenager to say something.

Gou noticed that her mother was willing her to say a proper goodbye to her friend so she complied. "Thank you very much, Nanase-senpai! I hope you get home safe."

It didn't slip his notice that she seemed very uncomfortable with the situation and that she kept on referring to him as Nanase-senpai. Haru nodded and turned to leave.

_I like listening to you talk_. He almost said it to her. He liked listening to her voice; he liked knowing about her day, her friends, her interests. But then again, he was just _Nanase-senpai _when her mother is around_._ He hated the fact that it bothered him so much.

He placed his hands in his pockets and took the longest route home, careful to avoid the path that he thought Rin will take. The last thing he wanted was to see Gou's brother while he wondered how he really felt about her.

* * *

Makoto almost dropped his phone with worry when it rang at one-thirty in the morning and Haru's name appeared on the caller ID. He had known Haru for a long time, Haru hardly ever called and Haru never called at this hour.

"Haru-chan?" Makoto 's voice sounded groggy.

"I like her."

"Huh?"

"I thought about it and I like her," he repeated. "But I'm going to Tokyo."

Somehow Haru expected Makoto to clearly make sense of both sentences. As if there was a profound connection between the two that would explain a lot of things.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. I just called to let you know. Bye," Haru ended the call.

Makoto looked at his phone, double-checking if he was dreaming or if that call really happened. Makoto shook his head, Haru's even weirder when he had girl problems.

* * *

**A/N**: Drop a review if you can. Or if you just want to chat about how crazy in love Rin Matsuoka makes you feel, please do send me a message so we can trade stories about the ups and downs of it all.


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